For those who had a less than 10hr labour first time around.....

[Cricket]

@Jakabella - from what I've read, if you made it to 5cm with your previous labour, you can count on the second time around being faster.
All the best for a great birth!

[~Stoked~]

First labour- 4hours 50mins spontaneous

Second labour- 5.5 hours Spontaneous

[Pretty Butterfly]

1st.. 8 hrs
2nd.. 4 hrs
3rd... 2 hrs
4th.. 1.5 hrs
5th.. 40 mins!
6th... 2hrs...

[~Raven~]

My 2nd was about 2 hours of active labour but I did have LOADS of prelabour to soften everything up down there. The others were just as quick too!

[~Gee_Whizzy~]

My first labour was 7 hours from start to finish (2 hrs of that was pushing!) and my second was 5 hrs (with 15 mins pushing)

[2girls]

DD1 was 8 hours (2 hours pushing) spontaneous at 40+3
DD2 was just over 2 hours (20mins pushing) induced via ARM (no drip as contractions started immediately on waters being broken) at 39+4

[MissM]

Wow, Super thread!!

Subbing but would like to add - I can only comment on my first which from start to finish was 4hrs - hoping for a faster one this time! but that was 9 years ago (Does that make a difference?)

[little_mrs]

Just had to pop in and say... U lucky things!!!!

[Trac73]

1st - Induce she was 2hrs 20 mins start to finish (39wks+6 days)
2nd - Induced he was 1hr 10 mins start to finish (38wks+ 5 days)
3rd - Induced she was 58mins with 3 mins pushing start to finish (38 wks)
I cannot remember the pushing of the other 2 as they are now 6 and 2 where as number 3 is only 5 months old so still very fresh
All 3 where induced for medical reasons 1st pre clampsia and 2nd and 3rd Gestational Diabetes both insulin dependent

Goodluck with your labour and i hope that you have a great one and it halves for you..

[Shanti]

Wowzers!!! So many short labours in here!! I didn't realise they were so common! that's good!! I thought I was pretty lucky to only have 9.5hrs labour all up last time so this time should be even better

Thanks heaps girls! I hope it's less time too..... even by 1hr would be great! Although 9hrs did go pretty fast for me!!! It flew! So i can only imagine how fast a 4hr labour would be!!!!

[RainbowBrite]

dd1 - 8hrs posterior
ds1 - 5hrs
ds2 - 1.5hrs
ds2 - 2hrs
dd2 - 2hrs
dd3 and ds4 - emergency c-sections.

[Ilithyia]

Was your second labour faster??

I had a 9.5hr natural (drug free) vaginal labour and birth with DD including 2hr pushing stage.....I was pretty happy for my first bub that the whole experience was so short!
Considering DD was posterior the entire time until the pushing stage also, it was a short labour. I often wonder, had DD not been posterior, would the labour have been shorter!! Because they do say when a baby is in that position it does slow things down a bit.
She was posterior from when labour started up until pushing stage.
I'm this bub isn't going to be posterior. Apparently it's more common with first babies so that's good!

My midwife I saw last week told me to prepare for what could be a labour in half the time, so about 4-5hrs or even less.....it seems very common.

So was your 2nd labour and subsequent one's faster and by how much??

Thanks

My labour with Briley was exactly the same as your last. 9.5 hours with a 2 hour pushing stage. She was posterior also.

Labour with Colby was 7.5 hours with a 10 minute pushing stage.

I was full term with both labours starting of their own accord.

Second labours are generally shorter but again it all it depends on other factors such as Baby's position etc etc.

[mbear]

My first was around 7 hrs...2nd labour...well.......my waters broke at home, my DH sped all the way to hossi, i got lifted out the car by paramedics, and i birthed my DD#2 with shoes and pumpkin patch maternity skirt still on...they did not even know my name. So yeah, super fast. From waters breaking to birthing her - 45 mins.

ETA - i txt my sister in the car in between a contraction at 10.58am.....she was born at 1107am....

[Shanti]

My labour with Briley was exactly the same as your last. 9.5 hours with a 2 hour pushing stage. She was posterior also.

Labour with Colby was 7.5 hours with a 10 minute pushing stage.

I was full term with both labours starting of their own accord.

Second labours are generally shorter but again it all it depends on other factors such as Baby's position etc etc.

wow, a 10min pushing stage would have been awesome for you after the 2hr pushing stage you had previously. 2hrs is a long time huh! feels like it's never gonna come out and you get exhausted pretty fast.

[Shanti]

My first was around 7 hrs...2nd labour...well.......my waters broke at home, my DH sped all the way to hossi, i got lifted out the car by paramedics, and i birthed my DD#2 with shoes and pumpkin patch maternity skirt still on...they did not even know my name. So yeah, super fast. From waters breaking to birthing her - 45 mins.

ETA - i txt my sister in the car in between a contraction at 10.58am.....she was born at 1107am....

mbear - that is SUPER SUPER fast!!! 45mins!!! holy moly!!! no time to even think!

I'm hoping, even if this bub does go posterior like DD was (which chances are it won't, I hope!!) it should be or will be a shorter labour as my body knows what to do lol thats my theory anyway.

[Mad Scientist]

DD1: 8.5 hrs - 36 weeks, SROM, posterior
DD2: 2 hrs - 38.5 weeks, spontaneous labour

Good luck everyone with impending labour!! xx

[black_rose]

Not sure with dd1, she was an emergency c sect after my waters broke but i did fully dilate in 40 min.

Dd2 was born 40 minutes after my waters were broken in hospital.

Ds was born 60 minutes after my waters broke at home, only just made it to the hospital in time. Apparently he would have arrived quicker but he got stuck!

[Arimeh]

So Shanti, was that 9.5 hours from first contraction? Cos I'm still unsure as to what to class my labour as being - a long or a shortish one, since I didn't really start feeling ouchie contractions till about 1.30pm and she was born at 6.20pm - but my first actual contraction was at around 5am. So I'm not sure if it was classed as a 5 hour labour or a 13.5 hour labour!